Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system, a printing service apparatus, an image forming apparatus, a control method, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
There is provided a printing system in which a client transmits a print instruction to a server and the server receiving the print instruction provides a printing service for converting contents to be printed into print data. The concept of cloud computing has recently received attention. Like the above-mentioned system, cloud computing can also be considered as a form of a server providing a service for a client.
A major characteristic of cloud computing is that data conversion and/or data processing is performed in a distributed manner by using a large number of computing resources to simultaneously process requests from a large number of clients. Such cloud computing may be achieved in a cloud computing environment. Currently, vendors providing a wide variety of printing services and document solutions by using a plurality of web services implemented on the cloud computing environment are emerging. If the web services implemented on the cloud computing environment are updated, firmware and/or applications of printers and other devices using the web services may be updated accordingly. Various methods have been conventionally used to update the firmware and/or applications implemented in the devices.
In a first example, a distribution server that distributes firmware and/or an application notifies a user of the release of the latest firmware or application. The notified user then downloads the firmware and/or application from the distribution server and performs update.
In a second example, a distribution server that distributes firmware of a printer compares the version of the firmware stored in the own server with the version of the firmware installed in the printer. If the firmware of the printer is older, the distribution server instructs the printer to download the firmware (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-194544).
According to the conventional techniques, device vendor servers of printers and the like have provided firmware and/or applications that are appropriately usable for the devices. In recent years, more and more printing services and document solutions are provided by vendors different from those of devices that use web serves including the printing services. As a result, even if various web services are updated, the firmware and/or applications of the devices using the web services may fail to be appropriately provided.
Printers provided by various printer vendors may be registered in a printing service on such a cloud computing environment provided, for example, by Google (registered trademark). A user who uses the printing service can print a document or image by designating a registered printer. The printing service is provided by the service provider. The firmware of the printers is provided by the printer vendors. Therefore, the printer vendors foreign to the update of the web service of the printing service generate the firmware according to the update of the web service. The firmware is provided by firmware distribution servers of the printer vendors (referred to as vendor servers) different from the server of the printing service.
The printers can use an application programming interface (API) of the web service provided by the printing service to perform printer registration and printing specialized to the printing service. APIs are typically updated for the purpose of adding functions and for security measures. If the API of the printing service is updated, the following can occur. To maintain smooth service operations, the old API of the printing service cannot be immediately disused. The printing service therefore manages a plurality of versions of APIs. In terms of operational cost and security maintenance, old APIs may be disused afterward. Meanwhile, the printer vendors cannot always immediately cope with the change of the API by the printing service. Therefore, the firmware provided by the vendor servers is not necessarily able to support the latest API of the printing service. If a plurality of pieces of firmware is registered on a vendor server, the user needs to search for and download a piece of firmware that is appropriate for the printer the user uses and that corresponds to an API appropriate for the printing service.
According to the above-described techniques, a printer can download the latest firmware from a distribution server. However, if the printer uses a printing service, the printer cannot determine whether the firmware to be downloaded corresponds to an API appropriate for the printing service.